Former President Barack Obama, who served as commander in chief from 2009 to 2017, accused the Trump administration on Sunday of targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota over her political criticism, calling the effort “appalling” in a lengthy post on X. “The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president,” Obama wrote. He warned that “if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.”
Obama Lays Out His Case in a Lengthy Post
Obama published the statement at 9:00 AM on Oct. 18, 2026, opening with a statement of principle. “It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say,” he wrote. “But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.” The post names both the administration and the president directly. In his April 2025 remarks at Hamilton College, Obama spoke of “deep differences of opinion with my most immediate successor” without naming Trump.
Before turning to the accusation, Obama recounted what he called the facts of Omar’s citizenship. “Congresswoman Omar came to this country with her father when she was 12 years old,” he wrote. “Five years later, her father became a naturalized citizen. If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately. But because she was 17, she became a naturalized citizen automatically.” He described her path from college graduate and community organizer to “the first Somali-American legislator elected to public office in the U.S.” and a seat in Congress, where he said she “has been one of the Trump Administration’s fiercest critics,” which “has led the president to repeatedly single her out as someone who he believes does not belong in this country.”
Obama then described what he said the administration is now doing. “The Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen,” he wrote. “Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.” He followed with: “Think about that.”
The Full Statement
“It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say. But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
To understand why this is so appalling, it’s important to know the facts. Congresswoman Omar came to this country with her father when she was 12 years old. Five years later, her father became a naturalized citizen. If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately. But because she was 17, she became a naturalized citizen automatically.
Congresswoman Omar went on to graduate from college, work as a community organizer, become the first Somali-American legislator elected to public office in the U.S., and win a seat in Congress. There, she has been one of the Trump Administration’s fiercest critics, which has led the president to repeatedly single her out as someone who he believes does not belong in this country.
Now the Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen. Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.
Think about that. The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president. And it’s not the first time this has happened. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has repeatedly gone after those he considers his political enemies — from the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve.
In those cases, the prosecutions either stalled or were dismissed for having no basis in law, and the same is likely to happen in this case. But not before Congresswoman Omar’s life has been turned upside down, her legal bills have piled up, and she’s been forced to spend time fighting unsubstantiated charges instead of serving the people of Minnesota.
The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views. Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.”
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama), 9:00 AM · Oct 18, 2026
A Pattern of Targeting, in Obama’s Telling
Obama pointed to a string of earlier cases, citing the Justice Department’s actions against “the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve.” The record is mixed. During Trump’s second term, the Justice Department has charged former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton, and has investigated Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve officials Jerome Powell and Lisa Cook. A federal judge threw out the case against James and one of two brought against Comey, Bolton pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced this month, and grand juries and federal judges have stymied several other probes.
The Raid That Prompted the Statement
Obama’s post came six days after federal agents entered Omar’s Washington, D.C., home. On Monday, Oct. 12, Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, carried out a predawn search. A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency “executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice” as part of “an ongoing federal investigation.” A person familiar with the matter said the probe relates to alleged immigration fraud and partly concerns paperwork filled out by Omar’s late father when she was a child.
Omar, 44, responded the same day, writing on social media: “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.” Trump, campaigning that day in Youngstown, Ohio, turned to Omar at a rally, saying she “comes from one of the worst countries anywhere on the planet,” and the crowd chanted “Deport, deport.” Trump later told reporters the search “has nothing to do with me,” adding, “I have nothing to do with it.”
What the Investigation Reportedly Targets
In reporting published Oct. 15, Reuters said three people familiar with the case described an expanding investigation into whether Omar or her relatives gave false information when entering the United States as refugees in the mid-1990s or while becoming citizens. One person said the sealed warrant lists conspiracy, false statements on immigration paperwork and immigration fraud as potential crimes. Agents seized Omar’s personal cell phone, and prosecutors issued more than a dozen subpoenas, including to at least one relative. One person said a potential aim is to strip Omar of citizenship and deport her. U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ordered screening procedures to keep investigators from reviewing legislative material, which is protected under the Constitution, though one source said Omar’s lawyers had not yet been told the protocol. Omar has denied wrongdoing, and a Justice Department spokesperson said U.S. citizenship “must be obtained lawfully and honestly.”
Officials Have Floated Denaturalization
Senior administration officials have discussed the possibility publicly. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told a conservative podcaster last month: “If we can prove that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place, we’ll deport you.” Asked in January whether Omar should lose her citizenship, Trump replied: “Oh, absolutely.” The process, known as denaturalization, requires a judge to find that citizenship was obtained illegally or through concealment or willful misrepresentation of material facts. The Justice Department has filed at least 164 denaturalization cases in Trump’s second term, compared with an average of 11 opened per year between 1990 and 2017, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Kerry Doyle, a former deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, said that in his tenure, “most of the denaturalization cases that we engaged in related either to very serious international human rights violations, or very serious crimes, such as Nazi war criminals.”
Election Timing and Justice Department Norms
The raid came a little more than three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in which Omar is seeking a fifth two-year term in a safe Democratic district she won by 50 percentage points in 2024. Justice Department policy bars prosecutors and agents from timing any action to affect an election’s outcome, and the department has historically avoided investigative steps against candidates within about 60 days of an election. George Washington University law professor Randall Eliason, a former public corruption prosecutor, said the raid appears to break with that practice but noted there is no way to enforce it. “The idea is to avoid even the appearance of any kind of interference by the Department of Justice with the political process,” he said.
Reaction From Democrats and a Republican Voice
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, joined by Representatives Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar, called the raid “deeply disturbing” and said it “raises serious questions” about the weaponization of the federal government against Trump’s enemies, vowing to “deliver full accountability” for a “rogue abuse of power.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wrote that “President Trump is abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election.” Few Republicans commented publicly. Rep. Nancy Mace wrote: “If the fraud is proven, she should be denaturalized and removed from this country. NO ONE is above the law.”
Obama’s Earlier Remarks on Trump’s Second Term
Sunday’s post fits a pattern in Obama’s public comments since Trump returned to office. At Hamilton College in April 2025, in his first extended public remarks of the new term, he urged Americans to defend democratic values and said, “It is up to all of us to fix this.” He told the audience that “you may actually have to do something and possibly sacrifice a little bit,” and voiced concern about a federal government that threatens universities and targets law firms over the clients they represent. The Omar post is more specific, tying his concerns to a named lawmaker and an active federal investigation.
Whether Obama’s Own Administration Faced Comparable Scrutiny
Obama’s Justice Department faced its own controversy over investigative powers in 2013, when it disclosed that it had secretly obtained records for 20 phone lines of a news wire service and a search warrant for a television correspondent’s emails in leak investigations. Press freedom groups criticized both actions, and the department said the warrant was approved by a federal magistrate judge. Those cases involved leaks of classified information and journalists, not a sitting member of Congress’s citizenship, and no Obama-era effort to denaturalize a sitting lawmaker turned up in the research for this article.
What Comes Next
Omar has not been charged with a crime, and the Justice Department has not publicly released evidence against her. A coalition of 14 news organizations asked a federal judge on Thursday to unseal records related to the search, which could clarify what prosecutors showed the magistrate judge who approved it. With Election Day on Nov. 3, Obama’s statement adds a prominent voice to a dispute over whether the case reflects a legitimate immigration inquiry, as administration officials maintain, or the use of federal power against a critic, as Omar and her allies argue.